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MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay – An agreement signed today between INTERPOL and the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) will further streamline global and regional law enforcement cooperation, through enhanced police information exchange.

Under the agreement, INTERPOL’s global databases will be linked to MERCOSUR’s Security Information Exchange System (SISME) which already connects the national databases of its 10 member states - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela - thereby enabling authorized users to simultaneously search both and avoid duplication and critical information gaps.

Officers running checks against SISME will now also receive information contained in INTERPOL’s databases, including on internationally-wanted persons, missing persons, criminal modus operandi, as well as forgery characteristics and seizures connected to trafficking operations.

Signing the agreement during the meeting of the Ministers of the MERCOSUR in Montevideo, INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said “Connecting these two important databases will bring real and direct benefits to police on the ground as they will now be able to extend their searches both globally and instantly.

“Obtaining international policing information at national and regional level is essential in crime prevention and detection, and this agreement will help increase the safety and security of citizens not just in the MERCOSUR region, but around the world,” added the INTERPOL Chief.

During his mission to Uruguay, Secretary General Noble also met with the Minister of the Interior Edison Eduardo Bonomi Varela and Director of the National Police Julio Guarteche.

Welcoming the agreement, Minister Bonomi said it ‘highlights the value that INTERPOL’s brings to global law enforcement cooperation, so that even those countries furthest from the Americas can connect to records of regional criminal activity.’

The INTERPOL delegation, which included Director of Cabinet Roraima A. Andriani and the head of INTERPOL’s Regional Bureau in Buenos Aires, Rafael Pena-Hernández, also visited the National Central Bureau in Montevideo where they were updated on the latest activities.

The agreement with MERCOSUR builds on the strong support already provided via INTERPOL’s Regional Bureau in Buenos Aires, which has helped coordinate and assist in a range of operations across different crime areas.

These include Operation Spartacus in July 2012, an anti-human trafficking initiative which resulted in the rescue of 357 victims and 197 arrests, and Operation INFRA-SA (International Fugitive Round-Up and Arrest – South America) targeting internationally-wanted fugitives wanted for serious crimes including murder, kidnapping, organized crime and child sexual abuse and believed to be hiding in South America. The operation led to the arrest or location of 89 individuals.